At risk and cut off – are other coastal communities destined to follow in Torcross’ footsteps?

Scientists have issued a call for joined-up action six months after residents in South Devon were left stranded by winter storms
Drone footage captured by the University of Plymouth's Coastal Processes Research Group on February 5, 2026 showing the A379 between Torcross and Strete in South Devon damaged by a series of winter storms

At risk and cut off – are other coastal communities destined to follow in Torcross’ footsteps?

Scientists have issued a call for joined-up action six months after residents in South Devon were left stranded by winter storms
It is six months since the main road into the village of Torcross, in South Devon, collapsed after a series of storms caused extensive damage to the community’s sea defences.
Residents are still coming to terms with the devastation and isolation caused by the storms, and awaiting the results of a £20million investment that will see huge quantities of rock placed on the beach at Slapton Sands to bolster those defences.
However, while discussions around that continue, scientists have suggested that Torcross could represent an early warning sign – a proverbial canary in the coal mine for the fate that other coastal communities around the UK could face in the future.
In a new study, they say the winter storms of early 2026 – including the named Atlantic storms Goretti, Ingrid, and Chandra – have highlighted the continuing vulnerability of the country’s coastlines and its communities.
And they say the repeated damage to the village of Torcross, and the A379 that runs along part of Start Bay, illustrates a broader national cycle of escalating coastal risk despite decades of scientific understanding and strategic planning.
The article is published in the Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures journal, and was written by experts from the University of Plymouth and the University of Southampton.
Its lead author Professor Gerd Masselink, Professor of Coastal Geomorphology in Plymouth, has been examining the increasing impacts of extreme storms on Slapton Sands – and other parts of the South West coastline – for more than 20 years.

The issues currently affecting Torcross are not new ones.

Over recent decades, and even going back centuries, we have seen coastal communities placed under increasing threat from extreme storms and sea-level rise. The question is how we manage that, and if it is truly possible to protect homes and infrastructure for decades to come when the power of the natural world can undo our efforts in the space of a few hours.
"None of the storms we saw this winter were individually exceptional, but their rapid succession and alignment with spring tides, caused severe destruction to coastal defences that has resulted in months of disruption. It has once again demonstrated how coastlines with houses and infrastructure placed within the active coastal zone can become systemic single points of failure, and when their defences do fail, it generates very significant social and economic impacts for people and property.”

Gerd MasselinkProfessor Gerd Masselink
Professor of Coastal Geomorphology

Professor Masselink and members of the University’s Centre for Coastal and Ocean Processes and Engineering (C-COPE) have been conducting detailed measurements and visual assessments along Start Bay for almost two decades.
It means Start Bay is one of the best studied coastlines in the UK, and – in January 2026 – the beach at Torcross was at its lowest level since 2007, meaning its ability to protect the village from a powerful easterly storm was diminished.
The Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) for the area, prepared by the UK Government, has suggested that the section of coast with the A379 running along it could be the focus of managed realignment – where coastal defences are moved inland to alleviate future flood risk – between now and 2105. And for the Torcross section of coastline, currently protected by a seawall, the SMP suggests managed realignment for the period from 2055 to 2105.
But in the article, Professor Masselink and his co-authors say the delivery of SMPs remains slow, politically sensitive, and poorly coordinated.

Smaller rural communities are often disproportionately affected and require credible future scenarios and adaptation pathways to support local engagement and decision making. Identifying settlements that should begin adaptation planning now could help communities use evidence to secure government support. Effective adaptation will require nationally coordinated approaches to managed realignment and relocation that are economically viable, socially acceptable and centred on community participation, fairness and people’s attachment to place.

  • The full study – Masselink, G et al: Coastal canaries – is published in Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, DOI: 10.1017/cft.2026.10038.
 
 
 
 

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Drone footage captured by the University of Plymouth's Coastal Processes Research Group on February 5, 2026 showing the A379 between Torcross and Strete in South Devon damaged by a series of winter storms

Centre for Coastal and Ocean Processes and Engineering (C-COPE)

C-COPE brings together strength areas from across the University's Faculty of Science and Engineering with a research focus on the physical and chemical processes in coastal, ocean and marine environments, and their human impacts.
The Centre's sphere of interest stretches from the head of tidal estuaries to the bottom of the ocean, and includes the disciplines of physical oceanography, marine biogeochemistry, coastal engineering and marine geology.
 
Researchers monitor the impact of Storm Lorenzo on the dunes at Crantock, North Cornwall, in 2019 (Credit – Lloyd Russell, University of Plymouth)